


Better than Expected

by bruises



Category: In the Flesh (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Feelings, Fluff, Ice Cream, Lunch, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-09
Updated: 2014-08-09
Packaged: 2018-02-12 11:21:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2107923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bruises/pseuds/bruises
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Simon meets Kieren's parents.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better than Expected

Simon lets out a shaky breath as he slides his arms through the sleeves of the jumper, liking the way the cold refuses to nip at his skin once it’s covered by a layer of woollen warmness. His hands tremble as another wave of anxiety wracks through his veins.

He’s meant to be meeting Kieren’s parents today. That situation alone managed to sprout a whole list of problems for Simon. What if Kieren’s parents don’t like Simon and never let him see Kieren again? What if he wears the wrong shirt? What if he accidentally misses his mouth when he’s using a fork and ends up dropping food on his shirt? Simon basically managed to come up with a bunch of elaborate ideas as to why today would end horribly since he’d known about it.

When Simon has made sure that his jumper isn’t dirty and the shirt underneath it isn’t either, he puts on the coat that he wears all the time and waits for Kieren to come and pick him up in the living room. If he sat in the bathroom he would end up making himself mad whenever he looked in the mirror.

Twenty minutes later Simon is snapped out of his thumb-twiddling trance by the sound of a knock at the front door of the Bungalow. Simon smiles, he’s nervous, but that isn’t going to stop him from smiling and Kieren. Kieren who makes his life ten times better just by standing next to him.

“You look nice,” Kieren says to Simon with a smile on his face.

Simon can’t find words to say back to Kieren because he’s feeling embarrassed all of a sudden so he just says thank you and locks the door behind him. Kieren finds Simon’s hand and twines his fingers with his, brushing the pad of his thumb against the back of Simon’s hand as they walk through the harsh winter to get to Kieren’s house.

“Is that your dad?” Simon asks Kieren, feeling memories of his own father rush back to him.

Kieren nods. “Yeah –say you like his jeans.”

Before Simon even has a chance to say anything back to Kieren, the two of them are standing in the driveway of the Walker house. Kieren’s dad looks up from what he’s doing and sees Kieren holding hands with Simon.

“’This the Simon you’ve said so much about?” Steve asks, standing up straight.

Kieren smiles and nods. Simon takes that as his cue to compliment Steve’s jeans. “I like your jeans.”

The edges of Steve’s mouth turn into a smile; he doesn’t mind Simon. In fact, he’s happy that Kieren’s with Simon. “Thank you,” He replies in a modest yet happy tone. “Your mom is in the kitchen setting up lunch.”

“Thanks dad.”

With that, Kieren and Simon walk into the house still hand in hand.

“See, that wasn’t too bad, was it?” Kieren asks, still running his thumb over Simon’s hand.

Simon nods, agreeing that it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but he’s still quite nervous about the rest of lunch.

Kieren takes of his coat so Simon does the same before following Kieren to the table and sitting in the chair next to him. He’s still a little worried about meeting Kieren’s mother, not knowing how she’ll react to him being there, but Simon is hoping for the best.

Simon feels his hands tremble again as he lets another wave of worry crash down on him. He tells himself that as long as he manages to not stuff anything up he should be okay.

Both parents are now sitting at the table, one on each end of the table while Kieren and Simon sit next to each other. Steve smiles up at Sue and Sue looks at Kieren, as if waiting for Kieren to introduce her to his new friend.

“Oh, right. Mom, this is Simon,” Kieren tells her, “Simon, this is my mom, Sue.”

Not knowing whether to go for a handshake or a kiss on the cheek, Simon goes with the handshake because it seems like the safest option. He shakes Sue’s hand and smiles. “Nice to meet you, Sue.”

“You too, Simon,” Sue says back to him. “I hope you like pasta.”

-

Lunch goes well. Simon doesn’t mess up and everything goes along smoothly. After lunch Kieren suggested that the two of them go for a walk, noticing that Simon looked a little tired towards the end of lunch. That, and he didn’t want his parents to ask either of them any unnecessary questions.

“Thank you,” Kieren says to Simon as the two them walk along the pathway.

“What for?” Simon asks, cocking an eyebrow at Kieren.

Kieren stops walking and stands in front of Simon, standing on his tip-toes to press a kiss to Simon’s lips. He doesn’t bother to take his hands out of his pockets because it’s cold outside and he doesn’t want to rest his cold hands against Simon’s warm face.

“For coming to lunch,” Kieren smiles.

Simon doesn’t know how to respond, given the fact that he literally had his breath taken away by that kiss. “Oh…you’re welcome, Kieren.”

Kieren chuckles to himself, reaching out for Simon’s warm hand and holding it with his cold one.

“Why are is your hand so cold?” Simon laughs.

Kieren pokes his tongue out at Simon before he makes a sarcastic comment back. “I dunno, maybe because it’s the middle of winter, Simon.”

Simon smiles back at Kieren. He’s happy that he’s found someone like Kieren –someone who’s always happy and tries to find the best in everyone, even if it isn’t there to find. Simon wonders if that’s what Kieren did with him, but he decides to save that for another day because today has gone too well for Simon to drown himself in doubt right now.

“Do you want to go for ice cream?” Simon suggests, seeing an ice cream parlour down the road.

Kieren stares in disbelief. “You eat ice cream? In the middle of winter?”

“Yes, I eat ice cream in the middle of winter, Kieren,” Simon says in monotone. “Now, what flavour do you want?”

Simon decides on chocolate and Kieren gets rainbow (that didn’t surprise Simon at all) and then the two of them eat their ice cream while the walk down to the local park. By the time they get there Simon has already finished his while Kieren has only eaten half of his rainbow coloured ice cream. Simon cringes slightly, not wanting to know what that _actually_ tastes like.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Kieren asks, frowning slightly.

“You’ve got a bit of ice cream on your nose, Kier,” Simon laughs, wiping the smudge off of Kieren’s nose.

**Author's Note:**

> (i wrote this at 2am i hope it's okay) Thank you for reading!  
> [my tumblr](http://ohfemslash.tumblr.com/)


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